See above for more nothings.

nothing ventured, nothing gained.....................

@pray: hmmmm. Das hätte ich jetzt zurückübersetzt mit "frisch gewagt ist halb gewonnen" ???? "Nothing begets nothing" trifft es IMHO besser.

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Ute,

tut mir Leid, aber " nothing begets nothing " habe ich nie gehört.

" frisch gewagt, halb gewonnen " hätte ich " a good start is half the battle " übersetzt.

Nothing comes from nothing is a philosophical expression often stated in its Latin form: ex nihilo nihil fit. This principle maintains that anything that exists in physical reality has its origins in and is the manifestation of something else. The idea was first expressed as such by Empedocles. Today, the idea is loosely associated with the laws of conservation of mass and energy.

It's a fixed expression.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained" is not quite right here. It means "nichts gewagt, nichts gewonnen."

"Begets" is very old fashioned, even biblical, and many native speakers whould not be sure what it means.

as written by Oscar Hammerstein II in "The Sound of Music":

Nothing comes from nothing
Nothing ever could
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good

King Lear

Je nach Kontext könnte auch 'There's no smoke without fire' passen.

you really shouldn't quote wikipedia as a reliable source. 'nothing comes from nothing' is not listed in the latest edition of the oxford dictionary; plus it really sounds awkward...